High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail.
t was the summer of 2008 in San Francisco and a small company called Airbnb had a dream. People with spare bedrooms would welcome strangers into their homes and share their restaurant recommendations with them for a small fee.
Fast forward to 2016 and the now quite big and successful Airbnb is considered one of the mainstays of what we have come to call “the sharing economy”. It is also, in every article written on millennials, the business that defines the mentality of a generation.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail.
Why? First, because it has subtly commoditised the “unique” experience. It offers people a way to feel both spontaneous and that they are somehow circumventing the world of big business. The word that Airbnb uses to describe the kind of holiday its users might have is “authentic”. “We make it easy for you to get to know hosts,” boasts the website, picturing a smiling lady with a half-chopped cucumber.
But Airbnb has lost its soul. No longer is it just about one human sharing their home with another. Something quite annoying has happened: companies offering property management services have emerged to help hosts get the best deal for their rooms. This is great news for hosts, but bad news for everyone else. It is also something of a reversal of one of the principles that first made Airbnb different — disintermediation.
Read more @ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1fbef27e-022b-11e6-ac98-3c15a1aa2e62.html#axzz46L2cGDOk
No comments:
Post a Comment